Pregnancy Update

Here it is–6 months into my pregnancy–and I’ve barely documented any of it!! It just goes to show how different it is the third time around!! Honestly, most days I am so busy running around with the girls that I don’t even think about being pregnant; that is until the end of the day when I collapse on the couch, totally exhausted!!

The collage of pictures are ALL the pictures I have taken during this pregnancy. I know; pathetic!! And none of them have even been with a “real” camera!! The first picture is from the start of my “bump”-at 14 weeks, and the bottom right picture was taken this week-at 26 weeks. I honestly cannot believe that the baby is due in just 14 short weeks. With Leah (and a little with Claire) I was counting down the weeks until the baby would be born, but with this one I am taking the pregnancy one day at a time, since I know my life is going to get 5x crazier once this third kid makes his/her arrival!!

At the end of January I had my 20 week ultra sound. We went into the ultra sound with the decision NOT to find out the gender, and we were (somewhat surprisingly) able to stick with our decision! This is our first time going the “surprise route” and I honestly thought the not knowing would bother me a lot more than it actually does. The idea came to me back when we were trying to get pregnant and month after month I was praying (begging?) God to get pregnant and to bless us with a healthy baby. It really hit me during that time that I never, ever thought about whether I was hoping and praying for one gender over the other, I simply wanted whatever baby God blessed us with. So, once we finally got pregnant, I decided (and so did Brett!) to continue my prayers of gratitude for this baby, this beautiful, wonderful baby that God blessed us with, without any thought or pressure on what the baby’s gender is. And it really has been reassuring and somehow completely peaceful, to pray for this special child, without a care in the world about whether baby is a boy or a girl.

That being said, obviously I am SO excited to find out who this sweet baby is come June! The girls change their minds daily on whether they think baby is a brother or a sister. Currently they are both saying sister, but I think Claire’s opinion may just be an echo of her big sister’s. 😉 Leah has been such a sweet big sister already, hugging my belly and talking to the baby and giving us name suggestions. She is not really into any boy names (no surprise there!) but her current favorite girl names are Margaret (after Daniel Tiger’s little sister of course!), Stella, and Velvet. It’s been very sweet, seeing her be so involved with this pregnancy!

As for how I’m feeling, it’s been very different from my first 2 pregnancies, but I think it’s because a lot has changed since my last 2 pregnancies. This is my first pregnancy as a stay at home mom, and although I initially wondered if that would make it easier, I have quickly realized that is not the case. Brett also now has a job that requires a LOT of travel, which means that I may go a week at a time solo parenting, which has only added to my exhaustion. Besides that, however, I am feeling really great!! I am still hitting the gym 3-4 times a week and am sleeping comfortably. I definitely sleep a lot on my back (I know, I know, a big pregnancy no no!) but it hasn’t proved to be too uncomfortable yet and I haven’t started needing to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, so I’ve still gotten pretty good nights sleep. (Well, as long as my other 2 children allow it, of course!)

As for weight gain, I seem to be right on track to gain the same amount as I did with my earlier 2 pregnancies. I don’t gain any weight my first trimester, and by 20 weeks I was only up 3 lbs. However, I know from experience, that my body has an uncanny ability to catch up, so I had to laugh out loud when I went back in for my 24 week appointment and I had gained 10 LBS in ONE MONTH! Like I said……I know how to make up for lost time. 😛 Now, 2 weeks later, I am up another 2-3 lbs for a grand total of a 15-16 lb weight gain. With the girls I was up 33 lbs by the end and I have a feeling I will be right on track with this one as well.

This belly is definitely a lot bigger than the girls and it is so high! Baby was still breech at 20 weeks (where as the girls were both head down by then) so I am not sure if that is making a difference with how high the belly seems to be. Baby was right on track growth wise at 20 weeks and all looked great. The only “concern” was a bit of fluid that was backed up in the baby’s kidneys at the time of the ultra sound. My OB reassured me that it is VERY common at that stage in the pregnancy and I will have a follow up ultra sound when I go in for my glucose test in 2 weeks, just to monitor baby’s kidneys and make sure the fluid back up hasn’t gotten any worse.

So there it is!! The first pregnancy update at 6 months along!! 🙂 Aches, exhaustion and all, I seriously love being pregnant and I am enjoying every, single minute of carrying this child!!